Can't we just all agree that an unhealthy diet, in this day & age, is a conscious CHOICE? (vegetables, smoking)
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I just watched a very interesting episode of Our America with Lisa Ling last night, and the topic was obese kids.
I got a little ticked off at the one point when the mother of a 300lb 12-year-old girl was talking about all the extremely fattening greasy stuff she cooks, because that's how her own mother taught her. She was deep-frying everything, and her idea of "fruit" was canned fruit in heavy syrup. Lisa asked her if she could cook anything healthful and the lady said something like "No, someone has to teach me. I never learned."
Someone has to TEACH YOU? Really?
I honestly think that in this day & age, everyone in our country...everyone in the civilized world, knows what foods are fattening and which are not, knows which are healthy, and has at least a ballpark idea of healthy portion sizes.
This woman may have learned from her mother to cook fattening food, but she never watched any TV show that talked about healthful fooods? She never saw a healthy cookbook? She had a big huge TV, so I'm sure at some point, some small bit of nutrition knowledge would have trickled in. I see messages about healthy foods every single day in the short time I have my TV on. Even if she couldn't afford cook books (the show profiled poorer families) there are libraries, used books, and TONS of free resources. I can't even imagine the immense number of free government-created resources on nutrition that we've all paid for and are still paying for.
This lady is cooking and eating in an unhealthful way BY CHOICE, not due to any lack of knowledge.
I don't eat the most healthy diet all the time, but I certainly know what is and isn't fattening, and what is and isn't healthy. When I eat fattening stuff, it's by choice. An informed choice. I can't blame it on ignorance.
It just really annoyed me when this woman abdicated all responsibility and said SOMEONE ELSE must teach her. Even the 12 year old girl was trying to tell her mom how canned fruit doesn't really count as fresh fruit.
To me, it's like smoking. This isn't 1955...by now everyone knows that smoking causes lung disease. People have the freedom to choose to smoke, but it's a choice, an informed choice. Lots of people eat really unhealthful, fattening foods, but it's always by choice if the person is an adult with at least an 80 IQ.
I just wish that all of us, those who eat 100% perfectly healthy diets, those in the middle like me, and those who eat crappy diets, could all just agree that what we buy and eat is our conscious choice and not claim ignorance. How much more "education" can we pay for? Mrs. Obama, Dr. Oz, and Richard Simmons could have all gone in-person to this woman's house and spent a full week teaching her about food, and she STILL would choose crappy food.
I just ticks me off when I hear people say "oh the poor just need more education about food" or "it's the person's culture...they don't know any better." It's insulting.
It's the mentality of "I want it", "I deserve it", "No one is going to tell ME what I need to do", " It's my money", "Its my body", "It's my business", "It's MY choice" and "I have rights".
The US generation was taught that for years, it will take more years to change it.
I hear ya. But If a person at least OWNED it like you describe, I'd be less annoyed. If the woman last night said "I LIKE fatty food, I deserve it, that's my CHOICE" I'd at least respect that.
I just don't like the attitude that people don't know any better.
she wants to be fat and wants her kids to be fat. she has manufactured a mentality where its either better or outside of her control. she has made herself blissfully fat and it is a choice.
I just don't like the attitude that people don't know any better.
I understand what you're saying. Please don't tell me that people really don't know that a burger and fries has more cals/fat than grilled tilapia and steamed broccoli? Really? And they don't understand the connection between excess calories and weight gain? Seriously?? Seems kind of unlikely as I have yet to meet one person - ever- that doesn't know that stuff....
At the same time, food habits, traditions, physical issues like insulin resistance can sometimes cloud the reality for some folks. Denial is high.
Last edited by springfieldva; 01-30-2013 at 02:33 PM..
I just don't like the attitude that people don't know any better.
Oh, she probably knows at least something about other choices, but ...
if she watch TV, like most Americans do ( it's often running as a background noise ), then guess what:
Researchers studied food commercials that appeared during 84 hours of prime-time programming and 12 hours of Saturday-morning cartoons broadcast over the major U.S. networks. Then the team calculated the nutritional content of a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet containing only foods that were advertised on TV, and found that it exceeded the government's recommended daily amount of fat by 20 times and had 25 times the recommended daily intake of sugar. In addition, the TV-marketed diet provided less than half the recommended daily servings of fruit, vegetables and dairy.
But... did you noticed the presentation, the colors and the yummy noises that accompany the ads?
There is always some luxurious background and beautiful, healthy looking people presenting that food.
It's a brain-wash, and people get easily brainwashed. Many people believe that whatever is on TV it's a gospel. Many lack common sense to know better.
Add to it that processed food is cheaper and in most cases ready-to-eat, so the meal preparation takes less time in a busy household. Kids do not need parents attention, they just grab something already prepared ( TV dinners, Hot Pockets, mini pizza etc.) from the fridge or freezer, heat in the microwave and eat.
How often you see home delivery of fresh vegetables and fruit tray? It's the fatty pizza, burgers, Mexican or Chinese food.
While many restaurant chains and food manufacturers offer healthier choices, they still highlight their more indulgent and unhealthy products in advertisements.
Fast food, processed food is still the cheapest, easiest way to eat, and a CHOICE for many.
And who is going to pay for health care for all these overweight diabetics who brought on their own health issues by their poor choices in eating and lack of exercise?
It's not entirely conscious, as its largely motivated by our evolutionary tendency to prefer more calorie-dense food (we're all like this, whether you want to admit it or not). But ultimately it does come down to personal choice, which is why despite being pretty left leaning, I get really peeved at the bleeding heart types who want to put punitive taxes on fast food. Its incredibly patronizing and removes all element of personal responsibility; if I'm on a long road trip or coming home really late and the most convenient thing is BK, I shouldn't have to pay and arm and a leg because some people want to eat there every day.
I understand what you're saying. Please don't tell me that people really don't know that a burger and fries has more cals/fat than grilled tilapia and steamed broccoli? Really?
There are people that do not know what broccoli or tilapia are. Will you educate them?
I understand what you're saying. Please don't tell me that people really don't know that a burger and fries has more cals/fat than grilled tilapia and steamed broccoli? Really?/QUOTE]
There are people that do not know what broccoli or tilapia are. Will you educate them?
Nah. They know, they just (really, really) don't like broccoli and tilapia so they don't eat it. I actually have a bit of sympathy for that even though I love both of those foods, myself.
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